Thankfully, the young adult dystopia boom is in society's rearview mirror. It seemed a new story about a teenage girl with hidden talents fighting a fascist government came out every week in the early 2010s. The Hunger Games was the spark that lit the flame and the only enduringly iconic franchise in the mix. The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is a prequel set to reignite that fire, though it struggles to keep up the heat through its interminable runtime.